The War Room (DB) – Week 8 – FlagPlus Football League

There are two weeks of regular season play left until the beginning of the playoffs, but that has not stopped our league from developing an early postseason atmosphere. The upper echelon teams (Mercenaries, G-Men, Motley Crue) look to iron out any wrinkles in their execution, while the bottom dwellers are hoping to squeeze into those last eligible spots. For some teams, it is a matter of pride at this point; nevertheless they do their best to play the spoiler in a playoff bound team’s seeding. Teams like CCI Eagles and RHC are playing much better than their opening weeks. This improvement could lead to a successful campaign in the winter season and I do expect them to both be difficult wins in the last two weeks of the spring. I did find it especially hard to see the RHC lose last week, they played a well-fought game (controversy aside) and probably should have won based on their performance.

Now that I have put a positive spin on the decent and hardworking teams of Division B, it is now my solemn duty to discuss those teams that are playing like <insert synonym for feces here>. Falcons, my dear avian brothers, you are no longer showing signs of weakness. On the contrary, you ARE weak. If a midseason slump were to be defined a great big picture of this would be in the dictionary: (https://www.flagplusfootball.com/team.php?league_id=1&division_id=2&season_id=R09&competition_id=1&team_id=40)

I can honestly say I really don’t know what has gone wrong with this team; things looked so promising at the start, only to fall out the sky with their third loss in a row. Maybe its time to shuffle the depth chart up slightly, or read a book on “how to not turn the ball over”, whatever the case may be: Do Something! Next on my list of dismal performances are the Thundering Herd, these gentlemen were licking their chops when they moved down from Div A. Now they have a sore jaw from being punched in the mouth by every single team they have played (figuratively speaking of course). After a long chat with their vocal leader Jamil Springer, he ensured me they will pull off the next two games. I’ve seen crazier things so let’s just see how that plays itself out vs the Alkaholiks. The Motley Crue have now found themselves on their heels as they have lost their second game in a row. After their much heralded win over the G-Men, they perhaps forgot that they hadn’t won any championship yet and that several more weeks of winning were required to hoist that trophy. I expect them to tighten up that lingering defense in the coming weeks. Last team on my list for being utterly useless recently is North Shore, they had a great start and opened a lot of eyes around the league. Now rumours of easy schedules and lucky wins are circulating further decreasing the apparent value of their record. They just got obliterated by the Alkaholiks in the FPF game of the week, which does wonders for their visibility and reputations. I smell a fraud of a contender in this league…

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I can continue with my usual drivel:

Power Rankings:

1. Kings: Well, Starwar and Company are back on top of the Spring League based on their solids results of the past weeks. They haven’t lost since week 3 and all eyes are on the playoff prize at this point.

2. G-Men: Solid win over the Falcons, but that isn’t saying much. The biggest thing to watch out for may be Solarik’s confidence or lack thereof in running his offence. He seems slightly timid of late.

3. Alkaholiks: What a game of the week! It was a pure onslaught by a talented squad. They demonstrated that when things are clicking, nobody in this division will stop them.

4. Mercenaries: Gino DiFazio threw 5 Int’s against a middle of the pack defence. This isn’t a good sign, nor will it translate into any success in the playoffs.

5. Choppers: Sean Avraam is really excited about the squad he has assembled and rightly so. They just beat the Motley Crue, and are looking poised to make a run in the playoffs. Will there be an asterisk at the end if they win the championship?

6. Motley Crue: Get it together boys, you are way more talented than you have let on in the past two weeks. However, if you are going to slump, perhaps now is better than in three weeks. MathieuRene, it’s on your shoulders now…

7. North Shore: Frauds, you guys have lost to Dirty Birds and the Alkaholiks in the last two weeks. Your soft schedule in the first 5 weeks has not done you any good and made you too complacent. You are in for a rude awakening if you continue to struggle.

8. Redemption: This team definitely wins with some of the ugliest stat lines. However, the proof is in the pudding and beating the Falcons/North Shore/Thundering Herd will boost your confidence. I think this team will play spoiler to someone in the playoffs.

9. Falcons: The wheels have fallen of the wagon, well perhaps they fell off 100 km ago and they have been dragging themselves on the ground. They sure are playing soft these days. Its tough to pull yourself out of a slump like this…

10. Dirty Birds: A good defensive performance for the usually shaky DB defense. They lack consistency on both side of the ball. Gordon Hogan played an amazing game against the Mercenaries with 3 Int’s, and perhaps he is the leader they need on that side of the ball to make them more effective.

Castleton’s Random Thoughts of the week:

Vadim Chernyak: Great Videos on FB, this man is making a push to be the official FlagPlus Films president in our league.
Moe Khan: His article likes to harp on about how the other Shockers don’t contribute to the wins. Last time I checked that D1 trophy on your mantle, the one you show off to the girls who “supposedly” visit, had the hard work and TD’s of Shocker cofounder Andre Knights all over it… Secondly, when making statistical comparisons don’t compare defensive players to starting WR receivers based on yards or receptions (the results will be slightly skewed).
RHC: Man I feel sorry for you guys, that is a tough way to lose. But I’m proud to see you guys are still playing hard and defending your reputations on the field.
Julien Hebert: Apology Accepted.
Primetime Panthers Vs Dirty Birds: Whoever wins is in the playoffs, thus it’s safe to say that both teams will need to leave it all out on the field this Sunday.
Goodfriend Vs Wyeth: Both Qb’s have their perks and flaws, both are great leaders and the soul of their offenses, it is a shame that FlagPlus needs to pick between the two for QB of the year.
Refs: It is that time of the year where I must mention that although some may disagree, the refs have much improved from the past few seasons. It is not easy being a referee in this league, especially with all the hot heads (myself included) and proverbial “masters of the rules” yelling and screaming on a game by game basis. Obviously with only two refs and 12 players, things may get missed. It’s not a perfect system. But I still believe that they do their professional best to get the calls right.

Castleton Connection:

1. Which player do you respect most in this league and why?
2. What is the biggest upset of the season in your opinion?
3. If you could build a team with 5 other players who would they be?
4. Favorite part of playing in this league would be?
5. Fave pregame warm up track?

Shawn Haney, DB, (Shockers/Mercenaries):

1.Jaques Void, Because he’s one of best WRs in the league.

2.Merc’s vs Texas all stars

3.Jaques Void,Vinny Gualano,Adrian Kellman,Tony Testa, Andre Knights

4.Getting better at football

5.Eminem – Till I collapse

Jamil Springer, WR/DB, (Thundering Herd):

1. I have a certain amount of respect for most of the players I face up against lol, but there are some players you got to stay aware of (like myself) there’s a lot of game breakers but I think the more consistent ones and flag vets like Andre Knights who had 90 something yards on my team last week, (but not one of those yards was on me knights, you made the switch out of slot to wide when I came over, wise decision lol). Player I respect the most though would probably be Matt Bonds on thundering herd he’s one of the leaders on D and he always keeps his cool.

2. Biggest Upset I couldnt tell you , to be honest the biggest upset to me is this (expletive deleted) winless season my team’s doing right now, I’m feeling like the (expletive deleted) 08 lions right now minus culpepper; he’s a bum. We’re gonna pull out these last 2 games though I’m not worried.

3. Depends if I’m looking for offense or defense, if im going offense, I’d put Goodfried as qb, hes legit, I’d throw nareg on one side, and that other tall dude, from ruff ryders.. can’t remember his name he’s slow but he can play the jump ball…let me check the site hold up………Lapierre. Inside I would probably go with Harrington, Browne as a center, and of course I’d play the other inside receiver, for D, I’d take Bonds, Kamel, Arsenault, and G.T. and Nathan. I would definitely have Moe Khan as the professional water boy, but not adam sandler water boy more like Cuba Gooding Junior in Radio, waterboy.

4. I like playing against old teammates, and when things get heated in a game it’s cool, plus it keeps my legs fresh for football season.

5. Hurt- T. I or anything of Jezzy…

Gianni Settino, QB, (CCI Eagles):

1. Andre Knights. Not only is he an amazing athlete, but he’s also one of the classiest players I’ve met.

2. Redemption dominating the Falcons 33-8 in Week 7. I thought Simon Richard was a pretty good QB, but holding him to 7/26 passing with 1 INT is pretty impressive.

3. Fred Saleh, Andre Knights, Nareg Yessayan and Tony Testa as my receivers. Alex Lever as my snapper. I challenge anybody to name a better DB roster.

4. Refreshing the home page on Thursdays waiting for the WEPL to be posted. Also, you guys do a real good job of creating a football community with superstars and storylines for each matchup, which makes the league pretty exciting.

5. Dead Presidents II by Jay-Z (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYIsa_u_C-s)

CCI EAGLES IN 2010

Vartan Demirdjian, WR, (RHC):

1.I respect myself

2.RHC beating choppers

3. That’s a hard question to answer I like the 5 other guys on offense on the RHC

4. The amount of talented players.

5. Don’t have one I just watch the games before ours.

Rehan STARWAR, (we still aren’t sure), (Kings/Chaos):

1. I definitely respect Adi Sharma the most in this league because he is a class act all the way… he plays hard, a great team mate and stays loyal to his teams.

2. I would say my Chaos losing to Rude Bwoys.. nothing to take anything away from the Bwoys but that was an upset and a half!

3. I love my Kings and Chaos roster the way it is, wouldn’t change it for anything else!

4. I think the best part is meeting new people and expanding your network while also playing the game of football… I never played tackle and wouldn’t start now so flag football gives you a chance to play the game competitively and have fun as well.

5. There are quite a few tracks that can pump me up but my favorite is Move Bitch by Ludacris

Quote of the Week:

This was a conversation between Jon Young and Gary Bloomfield, after Shocker QB K. Wyeth went 14/14 and 4 td’s in the first half against the Titans.

Jon: Yo, does Wyeth pay to play in this league?

Gary: Of course, he does…

Jon: Man, if I was that good I would NEVERRRRRR pay!